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CNN Live Today
Dangerous Days
Aired September 05, 2003 - 11:08 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: With the 9/11 anniversary fast approaching, the FBI's put out a worldwide alert today for four alleged terrorists.
Let's bring in our justice correspondent Kelli Arena. She's in Washington with more on this alert.
Kelli, good morning.
KELLI ARENA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.
Well, the FBI has told its state and local partners to be on the lookout for four men. Now according to the FBI, there is information indicating the four are involved in terrorist activities and may pose a threat to U.S. citizens and interests here and abroad. Now their whereabouts are unknown. It's not even clear whether they are in the United States. Sources say the information about these four came out of interrogations with detainees.
Now there has been an uptick in intelligence recently, but officials are not connecting it with these four. Now that intelligence suggests possible multiple attacks by Al Qaeda.
Again, none of this is specific. One senior source tells CNN that information suggests that there was a plan in place to attack by this weekend.
But that source also points out there was going to be a previous intelligence suggesting an attack by the end of August, which did not take place. What's more, while the general level of concern is higher than it has been in recent weeks, the Department of Homeland Security has said it is not raising the threat level at this time, again, nothing specific.
Now getting back to the latest alert. Not all of these names are new to us. "Be on the lookouts" have been posted for two men in the past. One of them, you see here, Adnad El Shukrijumah, is especially worrisome to law enforcement. Information about this man came out with interrogations with Al Qaeda leader Khalid Shaikh Mohammed. El Shukrijumah is a Saudi national. He is just one. One of the of the other four is also from Saudi Arabia. The other two, one from Morocco, one from Tunisia.
Daryn, back to you.
ARENA: And, Kelli, what about this other alert out there, about the possibility of terrorists trying to hijack planes from a nearby country, let's just say Canada?
KAGAN: That came out of homeland security yesterday, and it was part of a variety of information, updated information. Much of it we heard before. But seeing it in black and white, a little bit unsettling. What homeland said yesterday was that there is information that Al Qaeda obviously continues to develop plans to attack commercial aircraft, it said. Plans are calling for hijacking airliners that transit near or fly over the United States, but are not meant to land at U.S. airports.
So as a result they say operators have been studying which countries have the least strict requirements that they can get on board, hijack a plane and possibly do some damage in the U.S. They know if it's heading to a U.S. airport, security will be very tight. This is one of several warnings that were put out yesterday. One also concerning chemical, biological, and radioactive weapons. Lots of information. This is all I'm told by sources, Daryn, all sort of interconnected. There's a lots of information coming in from a lots of different places. Putting it all together has been the tricky part. Again, bottom line here, though, nothing specific, and that's what the intelligence community is really trying to put a finger on.
KAGAN: So, as a layperson, can I ask you this question? Why do they put this information out there? There's nothing we can do about it. It's not like you're not going to get on an airplane if you have to go. You can't do anything, so why do we even know?
ARENA: The information is meant for state and local law enforcement partners. I mean, this is information not put out to the public. We get a hold of it, and so report on it. But the information is shared with law enforcement so that they are aware. It's all part of this post-9/11 information sharing that goes on now to say, hey, whatever we know at the federal level, you will know at the state and local level, because you're on the front line in this fight on terrorism. And so this is -- everyone to the last man says this is much better than not knowing.
KAGAN: I got it. OK. Appreciate the clarification there. Kelli Arena in Washington D.C. thank you.
ARENA: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired September 5, 2003 - 11:08 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: With the 9/11 anniversary fast approaching, the FBI's put out a worldwide alert today for four alleged terrorists.
Let's bring in our justice correspondent Kelli Arena. She's in Washington with more on this alert.
Kelli, good morning.
KELLI ARENA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.
Well, the FBI has told its state and local partners to be on the lookout for four men. Now according to the FBI, there is information indicating the four are involved in terrorist activities and may pose a threat to U.S. citizens and interests here and abroad. Now their whereabouts are unknown. It's not even clear whether they are in the United States. Sources say the information about these four came out of interrogations with detainees.
Now there has been an uptick in intelligence recently, but officials are not connecting it with these four. Now that intelligence suggests possible multiple attacks by Al Qaeda.
Again, none of this is specific. One senior source tells CNN that information suggests that there was a plan in place to attack by this weekend.
But that source also points out there was going to be a previous intelligence suggesting an attack by the end of August, which did not take place. What's more, while the general level of concern is higher than it has been in recent weeks, the Department of Homeland Security has said it is not raising the threat level at this time, again, nothing specific.
Now getting back to the latest alert. Not all of these names are new to us. "Be on the lookouts" have been posted for two men in the past. One of them, you see here, Adnad El Shukrijumah, is especially worrisome to law enforcement. Information about this man came out with interrogations with Al Qaeda leader Khalid Shaikh Mohammed. El Shukrijumah is a Saudi national. He is just one. One of the of the other four is also from Saudi Arabia. The other two, one from Morocco, one from Tunisia.
Daryn, back to you.
ARENA: And, Kelli, what about this other alert out there, about the possibility of terrorists trying to hijack planes from a nearby country, let's just say Canada?
KAGAN: That came out of homeland security yesterday, and it was part of a variety of information, updated information. Much of it we heard before. But seeing it in black and white, a little bit unsettling. What homeland said yesterday was that there is information that Al Qaeda obviously continues to develop plans to attack commercial aircraft, it said. Plans are calling for hijacking airliners that transit near or fly over the United States, but are not meant to land at U.S. airports.
So as a result they say operators have been studying which countries have the least strict requirements that they can get on board, hijack a plane and possibly do some damage in the U.S. They know if it's heading to a U.S. airport, security will be very tight. This is one of several warnings that were put out yesterday. One also concerning chemical, biological, and radioactive weapons. Lots of information. This is all I'm told by sources, Daryn, all sort of interconnected. There's a lots of information coming in from a lots of different places. Putting it all together has been the tricky part. Again, bottom line here, though, nothing specific, and that's what the intelligence community is really trying to put a finger on.
KAGAN: So, as a layperson, can I ask you this question? Why do they put this information out there? There's nothing we can do about it. It's not like you're not going to get on an airplane if you have to go. You can't do anything, so why do we even know?
ARENA: The information is meant for state and local law enforcement partners. I mean, this is information not put out to the public. We get a hold of it, and so report on it. But the information is shared with law enforcement so that they are aware. It's all part of this post-9/11 information sharing that goes on now to say, hey, whatever we know at the federal level, you will know at the state and local level, because you're on the front line in this fight on terrorism. And so this is -- everyone to the last man says this is much better than not knowing.
KAGAN: I got it. OK. Appreciate the clarification there. Kelli Arena in Washington D.C. thank you.
ARENA: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
